Quoted By:
After prohibition they went into gambling and hijacking, the former has too much legitimate competition, the latter is too much risk for pay off. Many laundered their money in legitimate enterprise. Getting into drugs was too difficult because the top of it is controlled by prison gangs who control all the street gangs. The Mafia cannot handle wars with either due to sheer number, also drugs brings way too much heat for them to stay operational in the fashion they due, i.e. as powerful and known but left alone by most cops. Moreover the exclusive sense of fraternity and culture has diminished heavily due to the melting pot whereas Mexican gangs maintain an extremely powerful sense of ethnic identity that unites them beyond crime, that identity and brotherhood has to precede all else for powerful organized crime